Afghans Dominate Cricket World MVP T20 Dream Team

Afghans Dominate Cricket World MVP T20 Dream Team

Afghanistan's good form in the run-up to the ICC WT20 has been rewarded with a number of players ranking highly in our MVPs

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This week's dream team selection focuses on Twenty20 International cricket, using the latest Cricket World Most Valuable Player (MVP) Ratings system. John Pryor picks the best XI.

With the cricket world starting to look forward to the upcoming ICC World Twenty20, this week’s team of the week will focus on the T20 dream team.

This week the team is dominated by players from Afghanistan following their qualifying campaign for the ICC WT20, suggesting a re-growth of sport in that country.

Power and strength are two key components in a T20 batting line-up; our opening partnership this week is short of neither.

Famous for his big hitting, Chris Gayle leads this team having recently scored 85 from 52 balls against New Zealand in June. Alongside him at the top is the explosive Richard Levi. Levi holds the top spot in the MVP batting rankings thanks to recent high scores against the Zimbabwe XI, coupled with his 117 from 51 balls versus New Zealand in February.

At three is Scotsman Richie Berrington who has earned his place in this side thanks to a score of 100 from 58 balls versus Bangladesh, ranking him fifth in our MVP batting rankings. 

Kieren Pollard and Mohammad Shahzad make up the middle order. Pollard was in outstanding form for the West Indies in June scoring 63 from 29 balls versus New Zealand. Afghan Shahzad has been a consistent performer during the ICC World T20 qualifying campaign with scores of 77 from 57 versus Ireland, and 54 from 44 versus the Netherlands.

The all-rounder spot also goes to an Afghani in Samiullah Shenwari who has been consistent with both the bat and the ball; versus Canada he scored 61 from 34 deliveries and delivered figures of four overs, 14 runs and four wickets. Despite being ranked a lowly 13th in our MVP rankings Brendon McCullum takes the wicket-keeper batsman spot adding another star name to this team.

In the bowling line-up there is a mix of spin and speed. Making it two Scotsmen in the side, Majid Haq is selected as the primary spinner. Haq has delivered for Scotland versus Bangladesh throughout July, posting figures of three for 22 and three for 27.

The pace bowler Mohammed Sami of Pakistan joins Haq in this bowling line-up, after he took three wickets in three overs versus Sri Lanka in June and also took wickets versus New Zealand.

Dawlat Zadran and Daniel Christian are the other pace men in this attack, having both been in the wickets of late for Afghanistan and Australia respectively.  Elis Sunny of Bangladesh completes the line-up adding an extra spinner to the mix.

Team List – Chris Gayle (West Indies), Richard Levi (South Africa), Richie Berrington (Scotland), Kieren Pollard (West Indies), Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan), Samiullah Shenwari (Afghanistan), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Majid Haq (Scotland), Mohammed Sami (Pakistan),  Dawlat Zadran (Afghanistan), Daniel Christian (Australia), Elis Sunny (Bangladesh).

The Cricket World MVP Ratings are designed to offer an at-a-glance breakdown of which players are in form at the moment, rewarding performances from the past 12 months only. Players must feature in three matches to gain a rating.

What do you think? How would this dream team fare against, say England? Let us know by leaving us a comment below or join the debate on Twitter or Facebook.

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